Variable-standard boiler-feeder.



' PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

' I E. P. NOYES. 'VARYIABLE STANDARD BOILER FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED 00w. 2, 1906'.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 888,840 v PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

- E. P. NOYES. I

VARIABLE. STANDARD BOILER FEEDER.-

APPLIOATION FILED OGT. 2, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 mwlmg "VIII-,-

TTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD P. TIMES, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOCHARLES F. EaowN,

TRUSTEE, or READING, MASSACHUSETTS.

VARIABLE-STANDARD BOILER-FEEDER.-

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed. October 2, 1906. Serial No. 337,144.

T 0 all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD P. NoYEs, acitizen of the United States, residing at W inchester, in the county of MiddleseX and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and.useful Improvements in Variable- Standard Boiler-Feeders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic boiler feeders and it. aims to remedy the consequences of an abnormallyheavy steam draft on the boiler.

In certain services Where the steam draft varies widely (as, for example, in supplying a rolling-mill engine) the water in parts of the boiler may assume a false level which is not the actual mean water-level. This is especially noticeable in water-tube boilers where upon the occurrence of a heavy steam draft the water-line will mount abovethe mean level in one drum and descend below it in another drum due to the reduced pressure and sudden release of steam bubbles from the water with a consequent upward surging in the up-take tubes. If the gageglass is on the drum which shows-a depressed level, the boiler'tender, if the feed is controlled by hand, will learn not to bring the feed up to the normal mean-level line at times of heavy draft,.but will keep the water only just in sight in the glass. But automatic feed regulators as now constructed and applied do not take cognizance of the false level and consequently either over-feed or under-feed the boiler at times of heavy steam draft, according to whether the automatic regulator is controlled from a point of depressed false level or from a point of raised false level. v

To overcome these objections my invention comprises an automatic boiler-feeding apparatus having a shifting or variable standard of level and controlled by a mechanism sensitive to variations inthe steam draft on the boiler. If the regulator is attached to a point on the boiler showing raised false level when the steam draft is ex cessive its controlling mechanism operates to raise the standard level of the regulator so that it will continue to feed boiler water 11 to a higher water-line in the drum or part 0' the boiler showing the abnormal rise. In other words it is then controlled by the crest of the surge produced by excessive ebullition. If the regulator is attached to a drum showing a depressed false level, the controller sensitive to steam draft will lower the standard level of operation of the regulator so that it is then controlled by the hollow of the surge, giving the boiler, however, in each case, an actual mean waterlevel-intermedi- 'ate between the crest and hollow.

The particular form of automatic regulator employed is immaterial to my present inven tion. In the drawings I have shown four different types of regulator of variable standard level.

Figure 1 represents a sectional view showing one form of my automatic apparatus a plied to a boiler and adjusted to control the water level from a boiler drum showing a depressed false level at times of heavy steam draft. Fig. '2 represents a view showing a different form of regulator with the invention applied thereto. Fig. 3 represents a detail sectional view of a by-pass valve em ployed in the two foregoing forms. Fig. 4 represents a view showing a third form of the invention. Fig. 5 represents a fourth form.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Referring at first to Figs. 1 and 8, 10 indicates a steam and water drum which may be A throttle-valve 12 and having steam -inletthrough a perforated dry pipe 13 within the boiler. 14 is a tubular casing within which the water-level of drum 10 is maintained by means of pipes 15, 16, said casing containing concentric tubes 17, 18 having their lower orifices located respectively at a low level aa and a high level b-b. The level b-b may represent the desired mean or normal water-line. The pipes 17, 18 connect at theirupper ends with chambers 19, 20, from which a constant slight leakage of steam takes place through release-valves 21, 22. 23 is a diaphragm connected with a throttle; valve 24 in the'feed-line 25 and receiving-on its upper side the pressure of a water column in a pipe 26 connecting with the chamber 19 and in addition a variable steam pressure, while its lower side receives the ressure of a water column in a pipe 27, an in addition the steady steam pressure of the boiler transmitted by way of easing l-iand pipe 15. Chamber 20 has a loop-pipe 28 connecting it with the summit of pipe 26 and containing a valve-casing 29 in which is a valve 30 hav- I ing its stem attached to a diaphragm 31.

On its lower side this diaphragm receives steam pressure from the interior of the boiler branch 34.

with the steam-pipe 11 is preferably between drum 10 through a pipe 32 connected with casing '14, and onits upper side the pressure of a light spring 33 and steam pressure from the steam-pipe 11 by way of'a connecting The connection of this branch the throttle 12 and the dry-pipe 13 as shown,

f. the inlet holes of the dry-pipe such that a %nd I further prefer to make the total area considerable drop in pressure of the outgoing steam will be causedat times of heavy draft while at times of light draft the pressure drop ,ta will be inappreciable. I

Considering the operation of the device, it will-,ibe seen that when the water-level in drum 1O is below line a-a, the steam pressures transmitted to opposite sides of diaphragm 23 are balanced and relative hydrostatic heads together with the weight of parts causes feed-valve 24 to' openand per- I way of pipes 18 and 28 and thus prevent any nit thepump to raise the water-level. If the water-line reaches the level a'a so as to seal the pipe 17. at a time of normal steam draft, it will have no. eflect in unbalancing the diaphragm 23, for at such times the steam pressures on diaphragm 31 are balanced and spring 33 opens the valve 39 so as to admit boiler steam into chamber 19 by substantial reduction of the pressure in chamber 19 by way of. the leakage-valve 21.

The water then continuesto feed until the level rises to b b and since both pipes 17 and 18 are their sealed, the pressure inthe variable-pressure chambers 19, 20 will be reduced by leakage through the valves 21, 22, thus unbalancing the diaphragm 23 and causing the feed-valve 24 to diminish or stop the 'feed. If, however, the water-level in the drum rises tothe line a-aat a time of abnormal steam draft it will lfind the by-pass valve 30 in loop 28 closed because the resistance of thedry-pipe apertures 13 has produced a diminution of pressure in the steam-pipe 11 and above diaphragm 3 1,

compared with the pressure existing in the drum 10 and below said dia hragm. Accordingly the pressure'in cha n er19 will be reduced by sealing ofthe pi e 17 and leakage through valve 22 and the 'aphragm 23 will operate to control the feed-valve 24. The,

boiler is thus controlled from the hollow of the surge in drum 10 which constitutes a deploying two diaphragms 35, 36-w'ith variablepressure chambers 37, 38 corresponding to the'chambers 19, 20 of Fig. 1, and having concentric pendent dip-tubes 39, 40 both attached to feed-valve 24 and having inlets at the levels a-a..and,bb respectively. A diaphra m 31 having connections similar to the ones shown in Fig. l controls a byepass valve device 29 which is open when the steam draft through pipe 11 is normal, thereby disabling the upper diaphragm 35 whose controlling level is a a, and is closed when the steam draft is heavy, wherebythe dia hra m 35 assumes control at the lower false ev aa. The lower end of pipe 39 has a headed-connection with the stem of thefeed-valve whereby the diaphragm 36 may rise and close said valve without movement of the tube 39.- i i In both of the foregoing'forms it will be seen that the regulator has two fixed standard levels of action, namely a normal or high desired range of water-line level and an ex ternal sleeve 42 with a helical slot 43.

R0- tation of this'sleeve changes the height of the small aperture 44 common to said slots and the sleeve is rotated in one'direction or the other by the ap lication of outside power through .0 posite y-rotating clutch members 45, 46 wit either of which a double clutch member 47 splined to the stem 51- of sleeve 42 is temporarily en aged by-movement of the diaphragm 31. or the purpose of causing th1s mechanis to act in a ste by step manner an automatically t row itself out of o eration I prefer to provide the connections s own in the drawings accordin to which the diaphragm stem 52 is attache -to a floating lever 53 fulcrumed on a rod 54 which is attached to one arm of a lever 55. The other arm of lever 55 engages a nut 56 mounted on the threaded-lower end of stem 51. Whe n the dia hragm 31 becomes unbalanced by the fal of pressure in steampipe 11, lever 53 will be oscillated todepress the doublelp luteh-member 47 and en age it with the clutch-member 46 w% stem-51 and'sleeve 42 arerotatedto de ress the inlet-a erture 44 of tube 17. Sue rotation of th e stem 51 by reason of the pitch given to the screw-thread thereon at the same time causes nut 56' to be depressed and the ereby chanic.

double clutch-member 47 to be raised to neutral osition without any change of position in t e diaphragm 31. As soon assteampressure-balance has been restored the diaphra m resumes its normal position, the doule 0 utch-member 47 is raised into engagement with the upper rotating clutch-member 45 which rotates in the op osite direction from the lower clutch-member .46 and the a erture 44 is raised until the upward travel of nut 56 has depressed the fulcrum of lever 53 sufficiently to restore the double clutchmember 47 to its neutral position.- It will be understood that any equivalent mechanism may be em loyed for applying power to shift the stant ard level of the feed-regulatorunder control of the steam draft from the boiler. Fig. 5 shows a similar mechanism ap lied to rotate a threaded stem 48 and shift t e height of a floatv 49 .which is connected to operate feed-valve 24 by a suitable mechanism, the float being held from rotation but permitted to rise and fall, and the stem 48 having connection 50 with the shaft of the double clutch member whereby the two rotate together, but the float 49 is permitted to rise and fall under the influence of changing water-level in the drum 10.

Either of the forms of my invention shown in Figs. 4 and 5 could be ap lied to control the boiler feed at times of a normal steamdraft from a raised false level instead of a depressed false level by a suitable rearrangement of connections at the pro er oints which will be obvious to any srillec me- In like manner the forms shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be rearranged to accomplish the same result by simple changes which do not vary the scope of my invention.

I claim: 1. The combination of a steam boiler having a steam outlet, automatic feed-regulating mechanism therefor controlled by the boiler water-level and having means for es-' tablishing said level at different heights, and means sensitive to the rate of flow through said boiler outlet for varying said height.

2. The combination of a steam boiler having a steam outlet, automatic feed-regulating mechanism therefor having a shiftable standard height of boiler-level control, a resistance in said outlet, and means controlled differentially by the steam pressure Within the boiler and the pressure in said outlet on the remote side of the resistance, for varying said standard level of the regulator.

3. The'combination' of a steam boiler having a steam outlet-pipe with a constricted aperture therein, a movable septum subject on opposite sides tothe steam pressure Within the boiler and the steam pressure in said outlet-pipe on the remote side of its constricted aperture, an automatic feed-regulator for the boilerhaving means subject to the boiler level at different heights for diminishing the boiler feed, and mechanism controlled by said septum and controlling" said means for varying the height at which the feed-control is exercised.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, the twenty eighth day of September 1906.

EDWARD. P. NOYES. 

